Terence Crawford First Man to Stop Shawn Porter

Terence Crawford waited three years to get an elite welterweight to step into the ring with him. And when he finally did, the WBO welterweight champion proved he is just as good as advertised.

Former champion Shawn Porter was the opponent that provided Crawford with his toughest test since moving up from 140. Porter fought with aggression throughout the fight. He even came out ahead on many occasions in the back and forth battle.

Terence Crawford backpedaled early in search of punching room to counter Porter’s aggression. But as the fight went on, the pound for pound great began to score more clean punches.

The fight seemed headed for a close judge’s decision until a perfectly placed punch from Crawford sent Porter to the canvas. Porter returned to his feet, but a series of punches sent him down again moments later. Kenny Porter, who trained his son for all 36 professional fights, had seen enough and called a halt to the action.

The victory improved Crawford’s record to 38-0 with 29 knockouts. Shawn Porter falls to 31-4-1.

“Who’s no. 1 in the welterweight division now?” Crawford asked aloud to the delight of the crowd.

Terence Crawford Next Fight

The question is one held by much of the boxing world for the last couple of years. Errol Spence Jr. is the one other man that can lay claim to this title. Spence, who holds the WBC and IBF titles, was on hand to witness the impressive performance from Crawford.

“I’m pretty sure my decision is made already,” was Crawford’s answer at the post-fight press conference when asked about who he would like to fight next.

Errol Spence left the arena without a word shortly after the fight stoppage. But he did express his opinion via Twitter later in the night. The first Tweet from Spence was a simple “lol” along with a smiley emoji.

The two-belt champion returned a short time later with the message, “if I was Shawn, I wouldn’t pay my daddy lol.”

The final message from Spence was a retweet from Fox Sports: PBC that included a created image of Crawford and Spence in the ring together. That caption above the picture read: “What’s next in the welterweight division?” The boxing world can only hold its breath while waiting to see if the most anticipated bout in the sport will finally happen.